Oil priming...Part deux

[Fox]

When I last checked in, I was priming my 302 before starting it for the first time. Problem was that I was getting 25 psi and no oil at the rocker arms as seen with the valve covers off. I was using a drill to rotate the pump shaft.

After some input/help here, I drained the oil, removed the pan and checked the pick-up clearance. It seemed to clear the bottom of the pan by about 1/4" or so. I had a local welder remove 3/8" from the pick-up down spout and now the clearance is just over 1/2".

I also checked the gaskets and I removed the the pump. All visually looked sound so I put it back together and slowly ran the drive shaft with a drill and had quite a bit of suction.

I removed the oil filter and saw that it had oil in it and I saw no metal debris.

I put on a new filter, secured the pump and pick-up, remounted the pan and filled it with 8 qts (7qt pan + dry filter) of 10W/30.

Ran the drill (in reverse) and still 25 psi and dry push rods. What the #*!(*.

I get the sense that if I had a drill with more RPM's it might do the trick. Given that others have done the same thing and gotten 50+ psi, it doesn't seem logical that it is a drill problem. I bet I am getting about 1000 rpm's under load at the drill, therefore about 2000 crank rpm's. I've been told that it should be enough to move oil to the top of the block...right?

Rick mentioned a by-pass valve. How would I tell if it was stuck open? The pump seemed to be o.k., but is there another way to check besides the visual and + suction?

Others have mentioned the front block plugs. I really don't think they are missing. Would that leak be enough to keep the push rods from being lubed?

I appreciate any input...

-John